Rune

CAITLIN ROSE – THE STAND IN

Mar 132013
 

Caitlin Rose gathered a lot of love for her debut album Own Side Now. And rightfully so, I might add. It’s a beautiful album, where her mostly acoustic songs use her voice to stand out.

In The Stand In, that acoustic folky sound is replaced with a bit more electricity, a bit more instrumentation and a lot more intensity.

Her fantastic voice is still the focal point of the music, but this mixes folk, rock, alt. country and traditional country into something I choose to call “Caitlin Rose”. This albums just snags you by the balls (if you have them, if not what ever is most handy and available on your particular body) (<----editor's note: I think he's talking about boobs), fills your mind with hot guitars, well crafted melodies and plain out fantastic, well written lyrics.

Someone has listened to a bit of Tom Petty, which is obvious in the first song “No One To Call”, a song that promises an album that will fulfill your every need. Caitlin Rose then channels Patty Griffin, Linda Ronstad and Patsy Cline – and mixes it up with a very 70’s sound with guitars doubling up on you like there’s no tomorrow.

A lot of this reminds me of Andrew Combs Worried Man, where the energy and the will to find inspiration in what could be called a “retro-sound” is one of the main reasons for success. She even mixes in a bit of Pink Floyd in “Waitin”, and it just sounds natural and correct. She mixes genres, and finds inspiration from a well of sources and creates her own bit of magic with it. There are so many details to point to, you hear some Fleetwood Mac here, some Patsy Cline there, and then there’s a bit of Tom Petty and even a bit of New Orleans Jazz. And in “Silver Sings” I actually had to google to check if Jeff Lynne had brought ELO in to play on the song.

But all the while it’s done with style, she show off a vast knowledge of musical history, and just picks out the good bits to create something that works for her and her magic voice. Let’s hope she keeps doing her thing, and avoids getting slaughtered and eaten by The Nashville Machine.

Some of my favorites are “No One To Call”, the out-of-this-world wonderful “Only a Clown” which she wrote with Jayhawker Gary Louris, the beautiful crooner “Pink Champagne – where Spencer Cullum really kills it on the pedal steel – and naturally the lovely ballad “Golden Boy”. “Menagerie” has a catchy tune that will stick to your mind like dried cucumber on a window, and anyone who has ever drunk-texted an ex will be shamed by “Old Numbers”.

I just plain out love this album, and yes this IS Essential Listening.

Caitlin Rose – No One To Call
Caitlin Rose – Old Numbers
Caitlin Rose – Only A Clown

Check out her website, or hook up with her bandpage on Facebook.

COLD CHISEL – NO PLANS

Feb 142013
 

I mentioned this in my list of picks from 2012, and promised to write a piece on it, as Cold Chisel most certainly aren’t a household name in the US. Cold Chisel come from that land down-under, the one with the kangaroos and the platypus. You know the one I’m talking of? Yep, the one they call Australia.

You might be under the misconception that AC/DC or INXS or even Crowded House was Australias hottest band. They’re not. Cold Chisel was. And is.

Cold Chisel started out in 1973 under the name Orange, before changing to Cold Chisel the following year. And soon turned out to become the hardest hitting rock-band in Australia, netting double and quintuple platinum for a couple of their albums.

Their huge hit “Khe Sahn”, written from the perspective of an Australian Vietnam vet, is a good example of the bands sound in those days:

After disbanding in 1984, there were several rumors about reunions – and a couple have been held – in 1998, 2003 and 2005. Mostly one-offs. But then. In 2009 they played a one-off that turned out so good the band decided to go into the studio again and start touring. In the midst of recording “No Plans” original drummer Steve Prestwich suddenly and tragically died from a brain tumor. They decided to move on with old Divinyls drummer Charlie Drayton – and even with his looser style he fits bassplayer Phil Small and the band.

“No Plans” could have gone terribly wrong. Cold Chisels are legends in Australia, and their albums are as legendary as the band itself. Cold Chisel decided to put out one of the best albums of their career, and kicked international ass from the first chord.

Their frontman Jimmy Barnes has a distinctive voice and a range that most singers would envy him, and guitarist Ian Moss shreds it all the time. He’s played anything from heavy metal to blues rock and knows what works.

The majority of the songs are written by keyboard player Don Walker, and range from the toughest rock via country to the most beautiful ballads.
They deliver a sound that could be described as rock, blues, blues rock, stadium rock and even with a twist of country from time to time. The title track “No Plans” needs mentioning, where Jimmy Barnes really shows off his voice yet again – also “All For You” – the beautiful ballad that could almost rival his solo-hit “Flame Trees”. “HQ454 Monroe”, where Barnes channels his inner Elvis is a gem, and the rhythm section really shows off in this one.

And off course it’s “The Horizon” that steals the show for me. Cold Chisel shows us why they’re still Australia’s best band. The album closes with “I Got Things To Do”, a song by Steve Prestwich – recorded early in the recording process, with Steve’s vocals as a guide for later overdubs by Jimmy. The band decided to keep Steve’s vocals, and it’s their tribute to their long time friend and drummer.

Well, anyway – I love this band. And I love No Plans.

Cold Chisel – The Horizon
Cold Chisel – HQ454 Monroe

Check them out on Spotify, all the old albums are worth listening to, and were remastered and re-released before the release of “No Plans” – and sound awsome. Find “No Plans” on Amazon, where you also can find their old stuff.

“No Plans” – official video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4vuNYLeY80

HOLLY WILLIAMS — THE HIGHWAY

Feb 062013
 

Holly Williams has quite the legacy to follow up. She’s born into one of the most legendary country music families in America, and with Hank Williams Sr. as her grandfather, Hank Williams Jr. as her father and Hank Williams III as her half-brother, it can’t have been easy start singing and playing for herself.

In her song “Without You”, where Jakob Dylan duets with her, she addresses this:

«I got here on crowded trains
With old guitars and a famous name
Running like a kid»

She started out with a plan to just write songs for others, but ended up releasing the album The Ones We Never Knew in 2005. Then, after a near fatal car accident in 2006, she had to re-train her arm to play guitar again. While setting up successful a clothing-store, she wrote songs for her second release Here With Me, released 2009. It’s one of my favorite albums, where she really shows that sometimes talent can be passed on through generations.

History lesson aside, this means The Highway is Holly’s third album and it’s her best album to date, even better than Here With Me.

She has found her voice, and her songwriting has evolved to a point where she’s not just a songwriter, but a storyteller – and a conveyer of stories where she can choose which voice or character suits her storytelling best. The first of two great examples is “Railroads”, where she tells it from a male characters point of view:

«I had me a woman but she took my kid
When I gambled all our money on a moonshine still
Now I drink my whiskey from a beat up flask
This train done departed and it’s goin’ fast»

The second being the closing track “Waiting on June”, where Gwyneth Paltrow sings backup. This is her tribute to her grandparents on her mothers side, where she tells their story from they met until they died. This is a touching story and a piece of impressive songwriting as personal as  they come, written to her grandmother from her grandfathers point of view.

She has a good number of collaborators on this album, Jakob Dylan and Gwyneth Paltrow already mentioned. Her husband Chris Coleman contributes as a songwriter and a musician and singer, but what’s really my favorite is Jackson Brown’s duet on “Gone Away From Me”. His voice really suits Holly’s. I love Jackson Brown, and it’s great to see young, new artists appreciate a man of his stature.

The only song that could have been omitted is the totally superficial “A Good Man”. To me it’s just a piece of random lyrics dumped on top of a melody to create some kind of hit. It’s co-written with Sarah Buxton (or all written by Sarah Buxton, I’m not sure – as Holly for some reason chose to omit the liner notes and cover from her digital pre-order package), and it really lacks the substance of Holly’s own songs. There’s no story here, nothing to give this any kind of value when compared to Holly’s strong, personal lyrics that make up the rest of the album.

The title song “The Highway” should have all the trimmings to become a massive radio hit for Holly. Catchy melody, well produced and it talks about driving down those long, American highways. What more could a DJ want?

Her ability as a songwriter really shines on this album, but what gets me is her role as a storyteller. This is Essential Listening, and you know we just don’t throw those around for fun over here at Ninebullets!

Holly Williams – Railroads
Holly Williams – Gone Away With Me

Get the album over at Holly’s website (for package deals), or at Amazon. And yeah, there is vinyl to be had! Like her on Facebook.

RUNE’S PICKS FOR 2012

Jan 032013
 

Listening to hundreds and hundreds of albums every year sometimes makes it hard to enjoy single albums.
That’s why my top list for 2012 will consist of the albums I enjoyed most. Albums that got extended play. Albums that demanded so much attention it sometimes made me miss out on other albums.

These are MY favorites from 2012. I’ll split this in two, “foreign” (to me) and Norwegian. And the order is (almost) random.

Norwegian albums:

Rune Berg – Hølå (The Hole).
Rune Berg has been the guitarplayer and main songwriter in two of my favourite norwegian bands, The Margarets and Number Seven Deli, collecting several nominations for Norwegian grammy, and numerous other awards. At one point he suddenly realised that all his band-mates had opted for their plan B, and gotten families and “real” jobs.
Rune never had any planB. He wanted to make music. And decided he had to make his first solo-album.
He wrote songs, recorded them in his own studio, produced the album, played several instruments (mainly guitar) and sang the songs. And it turned out to be one of the best albums of the year. Delicious popmusic with roots going back to The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Jeff Lynne & ELO and all that good popmusic released before popmusic turned evil.
You can find the album at Amazon or iTunes.

Rune Berg – No Other Way Out

De Musikalske Dvergene – Tunge Steiner.
My all time favorite Norwegian band De Musikalske Dvergene (The Musically Apt Dwarves). You won’t understand any of this, as they sing in Norwegian – but I promise you that the lyrics singer and songwriter Helge Grønhaug delivers are absolutely magnificent.
This album is the album they always have had in them, and Ole Reinert Berg-Olsen (ORBO  from ORBO & The Longshots) has done a masterful job of producing this – pulling out a musical direction from The Dwarves, that they have always had in their bones.

DMD – Tunge steiner

Robert Smith-Hald – Thou Mayest.
Robert’s album “Thou Mayest” is another ORBO-produced gem. Robert Smith-Hald visited  his old homeland for the first time in 20 years to record this album in Nashville.
The album turned out to be outstanding, and filled with excellent lyrics and great music. Really a piece of music to pick up and enjoy.

 

“Foreign albums”:

American Aquarium – Burn. Flicker. Die.
While there is no order to this list, American Aquariums “Burn. Flicker. Die” is my top pick for 2012.
It’s the album I’ve played the most, it must have gotten at least 100 plays since it was released.
I was a part of the Kickstarter campaign for this, and that bunch of digital $$ is by far my best investment of 2011. The album that almost never was, as the band was ready to call it quits when BJ Barham got them to give it one last try to make THAT album. And they did. The lyrics are brilliant beyond anything else released this year, and the job Jason Isbell did to structure the band, their sound and these songs can not be rated highly enough.
I just plainly LOVE this album.

Andrew Combs – Worried Man.
I had waited for this release since I discovered Mr. Combs through Ninebullets. And he does not disappoint. Strong songs and fantastic lyrics that just keep growing on you. A real country record like it should sound and should be made, but not just country – he throws some blues and rock into the mix to keep it really interesting – and it sounds really fresh. In part a break-up album, this is one of my most played albums this year.

Bob Dylan – Tempest.
Being a monumental Dylan-fan, this album really impressed me. His Bobness still writes songs like nobody else, and kicks so much combined ass that it’s sometimes a mystery to me why anyone else bothers to even make music. His best in years!

Otis Gibbs – Harder Than Hammered Hell.
We’ve been so lucky to have Otis Gibbs visiting Norway over the last two years. He is one of the best songwriters out there, and his concerts are always good. Both live and on this albu, Otis takes you for a ride through his life, and merges both true stories, stories from the road and pure fiction like any masterful writer. “Harder Than Hammered Hell” has songs that’ll stop and make you think (Never Enough, Made To Break, Detroit Steel, The Land Of Maybe) and songs to make you smile and laugh. (Second Best, Big Whiskers). The production is the best I’ve heard on any of his albums, and the instrumentation puts a lot of bluesey guitar into the mix. And “Big Whiskers” is Otis Gibbs own “Tweeter and The Monkey Man”. Storytelling that would make Dylan smile and hum along.

Brock Zeman – Me Then You.
I’m not sure if Brock Zeman has made his best album with “Me Then You”, as his albums are so incredible it’s hard to choose.
From this list it’s easy to see that lyrics is what’s important to me, and Brock Zeman is one of the best writers out there. Of course the music has to match and hit me, but if the words are indifferent or just thrown together, I quickly lose interest. Nothing like that happening with this album. It’s rock solid, and really one of my all time favorites.

John Murry – The Graceless Age.
I’ve tried reviewing this album, and I’ll probably give it another try at some point. It’s just too hard to put into words how this album makes me feel.
But just to summarize, this holds some of this years strongest songs – and perhaps THE strongest in “Little Colored Balloons“. Open your mind to this song of of his fight with drug abuse, it will call for tears, goosebumps and heavy thoughts.
NOT to be missed (you’ll find it on Spotify or on Soundcloud), it’s a hard listen – but give it time and you will be forever rewarded.

Skyline Drive – Topanga Ranch Motel.
I love this album from Derek Thomas and Erik Kristiansen. Great songs, catchy melodies and a unique sound that will give any lover of pedal steel guitars a reason to play air-pedal-steel. This is real alt. country like it’s just not made anymore. And why I haven’t written about this is beyond me…
Check out the songs at Skyline Drives Bandcamp.

Cold Chisel – No Plans.
Another album that I need to write about. Cold Chisel is Australias best and most legendary band. Period. This just rocks. Get it at Amazon.

Cold Chisel – No Plans

And last, but by all means NOT least:
Patterson Hood – Heat Lighting Rumbles In The Distance.
Pattersons best solo-album, filled to the bursting point with his fantastic lyrics and showing us what a master storyteller he really is. And the song “(untold pretties)” is one of his best songs to date. Go get it!

Other stuff I’ve really enjoyed:

McDougall – A Few Towns More.
Debonzo Brothers – One Damn Heart.
Number Seven Deli – Toxteth.
The James Low Western Front – Whiskey Farmer.
Arliss Nancy – Simple Machines.
Hellbound Glory – Damaged Goods.
Tift Merritt – Travelling Alone.
Jason Isbell – Live From Alabama.
American Aquarium – Live from Raleigh.
Sons Of Bill – Sirens.
Michael McDermott – Hit Me Back.

JASON MOLINA – AUTUMN BIRD SONGS

Dec 122012
 

Jason Molina has been off the grid since 2009, going through rehab and getting his life back on track. He has communicated with his fans through friends a couple of times, and in May we got this message (excerpt):

“For the time being I am doing well, still in recovery and still in treatment until probably the summer does its thing. I’ve been writing a lot of music and eagerly anticipate the new 10” with Will Schaff’s book, word is that end of May we might finally get them. It is slow going, but it is going. …. Treatment is good, getting to deal with a lot of things that even the music didn’t want to.
…. Finally, there are actually some musical projects on the distant radar screen, but for those who understand, I am taking this in much smaller steps than I’m used to. Keep the lamps trimmed and burning!”

And that 10” he mentions is the reason we’re here together at this moment in time. Because the book he mentions finally got funded through crowd funding, and was released this fall. And it is magnificent.

Backstory: Before Molina took time off to get well, he recorded a bunch of songs to accompany his friend William Schaffs book, which collects most of his cover-art for bands like Magnolia Electric Co. and Okkervil River.

The book itself is wonderful. The artwork is both haunting and fantastic, and I think John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats says it best in his introduction:

«When I look at these small things – dark spaces into which light sometimes leaks, now accidentally and in small chunks, now grandly and with sudden, disruptive force – I think of Max Ernst, whose influence seems obvious. But I think also, perhaps less obviously, of Andy Warhol, who seemed to hold in abeyance the joy and terror of reptetition.»

And he concludes:

«The figures want to say something, but do not quite know how. In their helplessness they tell me at least one thing about themselves: That they are human beings. This is their strength, and their resonance, and the source of their fascination. They do what they can. Sometimes it ends badly for them. When it does, they cry out. You can’t miss it, even if you can’t hear it. It sticks with you»

Schaff himself tells us the story on how he got to know Molina, and how they have exchanged art over the years. He talks about how he sent Molina an owl-skull, and how it inspired him.

At one point Scheff and Molina challenged each other. Scheff war challenged to draw Molina with a bird-skull for head, which has become somewhat of a trademark for Scheff. Scheff challenged Molina to record him a version of a coversong he once heard him play. Not only did he get the coversong, he got an entire tape of raw material that would end up as the album “Magnolia Electric Co.” – which Scheff consequently made the fantastic cover-art for.

The book (with the 10” enclosed) is available both digitally and physically. 10% of the proceeds goes to Jason Molinas medical fund.

But let’s get back to the music. “Autumn Bird Songs” holds 8 songs, and the recordings are pretty basic. I’m guessing mostly one microphone capturing both voice and guitar, perhaps two. It sounds like it’s done at home, and the way the final song ends makes it sound like it’s been recorded on a tape-recorder of sorts. At times the vocal clips, but no matter what – it WORKS.
The intensity in Molinas voice just goes beyond worries on technical quality, one just doesn’t care as soon as he starts singing.

This is the last songs he wrote and recorded before going into rehab, making touring and recording impossible. And it’s at times heartbreaking to hear how he must have struggled with his demons. Take a listen to “Enough Of A Stranger”:

A hand. A strong hand. A strangers hand.
All the world divides fire into fire.
A wreck into the wreck.
All the work divides waste into waste.
Eyes into a strangers eyes.

The albums strongest track is probably “No Hand Was At The Wheel”. A song about heartbreak and how you suddenly can lose control over your own life – complete with Molinas unique imaginery:

The darkest day of the year
and my heart is on the rails
The darkest day of the year
and who’s hand’s at the wheel?

Those 8 songs are quite intense, and the nature of the recording ensures that vocals and lyrics handles all the progress. At the same time that’s all you need. Molinas ability to convey the essence here, the intensity and dispair is so strong that you don’t need a band or any production to get the point across. Molina comes across more as a poet than ever, and the depths of that mans mind is staggering.
This is not the place to start if you’re just getting into Jason Molina, but if you’re a fan – this is essential to understand the man and his music. I recommend both the album and the book, they are both magnificent.

Jason Molina – Heart My Heart
Jason Molina – No Hand Was At The Wheel

Buy it as pdf & mp3 or as hardcover with a 10” rainbowcolored vinyl at Graveface. (VERY limited stock)

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